1 & 2 Chronicles Part Two Deep Dive

RETRIBUTION THEOLOGY AND WAR IN CHRONICLES | KATIE HALDANE

Chronicles is written to remind the Israelites in the time of Ezra what a kingdom ruled with the correct balance of Levites (worship) and Law looked like. For the Jews, that was the kingdom of David. Throughout the text, you are going to hear much more about the role of the Levites within the community of God. With this correct balance of law, worship and obedience to God, David established peace in the kingdom (2 Samuel 7:1). For Christians today, this points us forward to the prophecy in Isaiah 9:7 of the rule of Christ.

I 9:7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Peace is the ultimate goal of the Kingdom and God. We have to remember that violence did not enter the world until after the Fall. It was not in the original intention of God’s world and won’t be at the end. So, what about the wars that are so prevalent in the text? Let’s do a study on warfare in the Old Testament to bring a balance to the retribution theology of a seemingly violent God.

IS YAHWEH A VIOLENT GOD THAT ASCRIBES TO RETRIBUTION THEOLOGY?

Retribution theology is the understanding that good behaviour produces good consequences and bad behaviour produces punishment in this world. Essentially, you get what your actions deserve. In application to life today, you are sick because you are sinning, you are blessed because God’s favour is on you. This oversimplification of the complexity of the law of sowing and reaping is destructive theology that is damaging not only to the Biblical text but the very nature of our God. The very essence of the book of Job challenges retribution theology; Job was righteous and his friends in their ‘retribution theology’ blamed his sickness on sin. God destroys this theology in His final statements in the concluding chapters of Job, and Jesus Himself corrected this thinking in John 9:2. 

We’ll take this same understanding and apply retribution theology to the wars in the Old Testament. Canaanites were sinners, so they deserved to be destroyed. Right? I understand that might help us put God in a neat little box that makes sense of all the wars in the Bible, but it does set up a very damaging precedent in the Biblical text that God will destroy anyone who doesn’t do what He wants. The book of Jonah refutes this claim – God saved the Ninevites because they heard the warning of God and repented. So how do we rightly think about the wars in the Old Testament?

WAR IN CHRONICLES

I grew up in a family that was on both sides of the fence when it came to war. My great-grandfather was a passivist that went to war but refused to carry a gun. My great-grandfather on the other side was happy to carry a gun and embraced all that that entailed in the season of war. Both controversial in their own right, both grounded in their own ethics and evidence, but which one was right?

Warfare in the Old Testament is a controversial topic that is discussed and debated on many different forums today. People are outraged at the violence of the Old Testament texts; how can God condone such horrific behaviour? And not just condone it, but direct men to do it on His behalf? In turn, these same texts have been used to fight ‘Holy wars’ in the name of Yahweh, like the Crusades. Firstly, we need to address that the wars in the Old Testament are not ‘holy wars’ with one religion pit against another. God was not advancing His Kingdom in the name of ‘Judaism’ but establishing a land for His people. It was nation against nation, not religion against religion. The use of the wars in the Old Testament as a template to engage in ‘holy war’ in today’s society is incorrect. The Crusades in 1095-1201 is confirmation of this error. 

In 1 and 2 Chronicles, the author is writing the ‘chronicles’ of the history of Israel, focusing in on David and the Kingdom of Judah, right back to Adam and forward to his time, possibly at the book of Ezra. But 1 & 2 Chronicles are not just historical accounts, they present an ethical issue. Does God condone violence on His behalf? You may have considered this way back in Joshua with the Conquest of Canaan, or possibly with the killing of the firstborn sons in Egypt. In this Deep Dive I am going to focus on the accounts found in 1 and 2 Chronicles to answer that question.

John Wright says,

‘Battle accounts in Chronicles serve primarily to establish, maintain, and legitimate a ‘historical’ norm of a united Israel at peace in their ancestral land under a Davidic monarch, with the proper priestly and Levitical personnel officiating at the Jerusalem temple.’ (pg. 175)

Within the historical narrative of 1 and 2 Chronicles, we find war reports (2 Chronicles 10-36). The concept of war and the guidance of God is a given in the Chronicle accounts. Seeking guidance before, after and during the moment of encountering the enemy is a repetitive theme throughout the text. The size of the army is also a focus of the Chronicles, the smaller the army compared to their enemy, the more likely they are to depend on God and then, in turn, the more likely they are to overcome that enemy (2 Chronicles 13:3, 2 Chronicles 14:8-9). Battle in the Chronicle accounts is not about the destruction of human life or even the gaining of land. It is about a lesson to trust in the power of God to overcome impossible obstacles. This lesson is seen in 2 Chronicles 24, where the Aramaeans attack Judah with a very small army and succeed because the people had forsaken the God of their forefathers. David himself wrote Psalm 33:16-18,

P 33:16-18:
No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength. 
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; 
despite all its great strength it cannot save. 
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, 
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love

The accounts of 1 & 2 Chronicles show us that God is concerned with the people of God, their protection amongst great enemies and their advancement as a nation. Again, we need to reiterate here, God’s focus in war is not to destroy people or to claim land (He owns the whole earth!), His purpose in the war accounts found in Joshua, Kings and Chronicles is that His people would trust and rely on Him as Protector and Guide in all area of their lives. And in that day, war and taking land were very much a part of their lives.

THE GOAL IS PEACE

The goal for God is peace. That, as in the time of King David and Solomon, the people of God would have peace. The surrounding enemies would be at bay. This is confirmed by the fact that war is absent from 2 Chronicles 1-9 because God had given them peace. Actually, 1 Chronicles 22:9 describes Solomon as a ‘man of rest’. This peace was never going to be established by war but by the coming of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Jesus has given us the ability to have peace no matter what we face in life today (Ephesians 2:14) and in the end days, we will live on earth in peace forevermore (Revelation 21:3-4)!

As you journey through 1 and 2 Chronicles and especially the war accounts, notice the intertwined nature of God’s presence in the battles (2 Chronicles 3:12-15; 20:5-21). This is not so we see God as a blood-thirsty war monger who outworks His ‘retribution’ on sinful people. No! 1 & 2 Chronicles are a lesson to a people that are just out of exile and longing for the ultimate place, a kingdom in peace. The author is showing them through these historical narratives that the only way the Kingdom has ever succeeded in gaining peace is to obey God, the Law and ensure that worship is established in all we do! 

recommended

An Introduction to the Old Testament

Chronicles part One

Chronicles part Two